Do you Rekall?

[Andrew L. Gould]

On Wednesday 19 November 2003 03:26 pm, David A. Bandel wrote:
> On Wed, 19 Nov 2003 13:47:51 -0600
>
> "Andrew L. Gould" <algould at datawok.com> wrote:
> > On Wednesday 19 November 2003 10:39 am, Matthew Carpenter wrote:
> > > What is the key piece of MSOffice which is not readily available as
> > > Open Source?
>
> [snip]
>
> > To say that a front-end for database administration or queries is a
> > replacement for MS Access is to say that you haven't used all of the
> > facets of MS Access:
>
> [snip Access plug]
>
> All the above said, Access is a _toy_.  If you need a database (of more
> than about 100 rows) you really need a SQL database like PostgreSQL.  It
> does all you mentioned and more.  It also supports multiple users
> (hundreds of simultaneous selects), supports transactions, foreign keys,
> outer joins, and is fast (particularly searches on indexed columns).  It
> is also ACID.  I'm putting together yet another database and front end
> for a gov't agency here.  They'll use a web browser.  I'm still writing
> the Perl script to provide the various queries and inserts/updates.  But
> it will get thousands of entries per year.
>
> If you want to see a _good_ web -> postgresql app, try SQL-Ledger
> (http://www.sql-ledger.com/).
>
> Besides, OO supports ODBC queries of PostgreSQL.  Poorly documented,
> yes.  But I have done it (once, and maybe never again; psql is a _lot_
> easier, especially if views are properly constructed.)
>
> Ciao,
>
> David A. Bandel

David,

Your points are good.  You're right, MS Access is not comparable to a **real** 
database server.  I use PostgreSQL on the back-end for the reasons you 
mentioned.  Access has, however, great utility as a flexible front-end for 
applications or fast, complex, adhoc analysis.  Existing query front-ends in 
Linux usually fail the complexity criteria.

Of course, I may be the whining exception.

I didn't mean to be plugging MS Access -- I truly want a replacement.  MS 
Access and tax software are the 2 items that will keep a copy of Window on my 
computer.  (I encountered memory limit problems with Access via Crossover 
Office on a PC with 1.5GB RAM.)

Okay, I'll get off my soap box now.

Andrew Gould